MANITOWOC - As the original class of 15 or so students in Lincoln High School teacher Renate Blennert's advanced sociology class prepared to tour the school's historic tower Thursday afternoon, the classroom slowly filled with about 30 other students joining the exploration.

Not everyone gets to tour the tower.

"This is something really special," Blennert told students. "It's a heritage of this school and is a symbol of the community."

The lucky students climbed up a series of narrow stairways to see hundreds of student names and their graduation years scrawled on brick walls, window sills, walls covered in peeling paint and even ceiling supports.

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From left, Mychael Dopirak, Alex Wideman, Brett Bouc and Alyssa Kliment look through the old yearbooks in the room that used to house the yearbook club in Manitowoc Lincoln High School's tower Thursday.(Photo: Josh Clark/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Blennert told students one area showcases signatures made by students before they joined the military during World War II.

"They said they wanted to sign their names because they weren't sure if they were coming back," she said. "Just think of those people being here in this room at that time."

One floor holds a room that once served as an office for yearbook staff before the tower was closed off for safety reasons. In it, students found yearbooks dating back to the school's early years, and were delighted to find decades-old photos of teachers, parents or grandparents.

Another floor houses the dusty remains of a school greenhouse, still filled with troughs where plants once grew, pots and an old, old sink. A storm years ago blew a glass-plated window area.

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Senior McKenna Metzner takes part in the tradition of signing her name on the walls of Manitowoc Lincoln High School's tower Thursday. Some signatures on the wall date back as far as the 1950s.(Photo: Josh Clark/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Students also were allowed to climb a winding spiral staircase to the very top and out into the open air, something that doesn't happen often on tours, Blennert said.

"Looking over the view of the city was great," said senior Alexandria Bessert. "This is my senior year, so I'm thinking about the school and my time here. I think they should keep the tower. I want my kids to come here someday and see it for themselves."

There had been talk of demolishing the tower when the school underwent a major renovation in 1996, school librarian Tammy McVeigh said.

"Taxpayers and the community had to decide if it was something that was important enough to spend money on," she said. "They decided it was important enough to do that. And that's something the community will have to think about in the future, too."

Lincoln High School, 1433 S. Eighth St., has a long history of pride in Manitowoc.

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The historic Lincoln tower at Lincoln High School Thursday in Manitowoc.(Photo: Josh Clark/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)

Built in 1923, Lincoln is the oldest standing public high school in Wisconsin. The school serves grades 9 to 12, and enrolls 1,200 students. When it was built, it was meant to be seen as a beacon of the community, according to McVeigh, who graduated from Lincoln in 1979. The tower made the school that much more special.

The school was built on land that had been hauled to the site to create a hill, McVeigh said. City leaders wanted the school to be viewed from all angles in the surrounding communities and Lake Michigan. That changed when the Manitowoc Public Utilities plant was built nearby. In exchange for the land, the Manitowoc School District received 30 years of free power from the utility, McVeigh said. That saved a lot of money but ruined the view.

At one time, music was pumped from the tower into the community every morning, until neighbors complained it was too loud, Blennert said. And she said there's no truth to rumors that someone took their own life in the tower.

"No one has ever been able to verify that," she said. "I think sometimes people just need a creepy story to go with a creepy tower."

As a member of the yearbook staff, junior Nicholas Moua toured the tower earlier in the year and again Thursday.

"I've seen a couple of family members' names (written on walls) and took pictures," he said. "I'm sure that will bring back memories for them."

He said the tower shows the history of Lincoln.

"I like how they kept it," Moua said. "I think it shows the Lincoln story and is a symbol for both the school and the community."